1.10.2008

I read a news article this morning about the Tata Nano car base priced at $2500. Made in India, it was developed for the middle class to become more mobile, with plans to market and distribute to other countries soon.

Happy and nearly gleeful that, finally, a product is sold for what it is actually worth, I wasn't surprised to read the comments of those trying to squash the car before it even hits mainstream availability:

With developing countries like India and China putting more and more cars on the roads, it has created a greater demand for fuel, contributing to sky-high global oil prices. ...And the idea of such a low-cost vehicle has environmentalists petrified, conjuring images of traffic jams at midnight, hours-long commutes and rolling clouds of pollution.

Of course the oil industry would be concerned! How dare anyone cut into their astronomical profit margin? It will be interesting to see how a war between the oil industry and environmentalists pan out. I'm not hopeful that consumers will benefit...

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Driving down to Little Rock the other day, I see this billboard that said, "Read a letter from your unborn child" and I about hit the roof. Those I'm-right-and-everyone-else-is-wrong, Right to Lifers not only miss the fundamental right of freedom of choice in their fundamentalism, they are crass and cruel in the process. Where did they get the idea that it is ever easy to decide to terminate a pregnancy? Do women already in a lifetime of grieving need to see a message like that? What makes them think they have the right to decide anything for anybody else? You don't own me; slavery is against the law, so therefore you have no right to determine anything for me!

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It's like seat belt laws. Does my not wearing my seat belt put anyone else at risk besides myself? No? Then why is it a law? I need protection from myself?

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I think I'll stop there, before I get on a real roll.... Got any pet peeves you'd like to add?